What is the size of your EP lab facility and number of staff members? What is the mix of credentials at your lab?
The UMMC EP lab consists of two clinical laboratories a single and a biplane lab, along with a three-bay holding area. It also has a dedicated research laboratory. There are five attendings, three EP fellows and up to three research fellows. The UMMC EP lab is an all-RN staff, with nine dedicated laboratory and two research nurses.

When was the EP lab started at your institution?
UMMC EP lab was started in 1989, and the range of services continues to grow.

The ‘ACC/AHA/Physician Consortium 2008 Clinical Performance Measures for Adults with Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation or Atrial Flutter: A Report of the American College of Cardiology and the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (Writing Committee to Develop Clinical Performance Measures for Atrial Fibrillation) Developed in Collaboration with the Heart Rhythm Society document was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in February.² The writing committee included senior clinicians, specialists in cardiac electrophysiology, and represe

When and why did you decide to study the psychosocial data from this group of patients?
It actually came up shortly after the trial was completed. I was on the Quality-of-Life (QoL) committee, which was responsible for planning and analyzing studies revolving around QoL instruments that were collected throughout the Antiarrhythmics Versus Implantable Defibrillators (AVID) trial. Our original intent of using QoL instruments was to assess the quality of life in the participants of the trial; in particular, compare QoL issues between the two randomized arms (i.e., medical therapy and devi

Why did you choose to work in the field of electrophysiology?
I have always been interested in the area of cardiology. I began working as a nurse in the ICU, Open Heart Recovery, and the cardiac cath lab prior to my working in electrophysiology. Approximately three years ago, the Medical College of Georgia brought in an electrophysiologist to begin a new EP program, allowing me the opportunity to join the team at the beginning of its inception. I found the area of electrophysiology very challenging, and decided to continue to stay in EP.

Describe your role as an EP nurse. What

When was the AED Access for All organization formed, and why?
Iowa AED Access for All was founded in February of 2006. A couple of sudden cardiac arrest survivors and ICD patients felt strongly that our community needed to be educated about the need for CPR and AEDs in the community setting, and we wanted to do something to help in that area.

1. Sudden onset/sudden termination: Often a patient will describe tachycardia as starting and stopping abruptly. This suggests a reentrant tachycardia.

When and why was "HeartSavingSeattle.com" formed?
When my wife was working at an AED manufacturer in 2005, she would come home and tell me about the statistics of cardiac arrest. At first I didn't believe her, because I had never heard these grim statistics before. So I started to do my own research and was appalled at what I found. What was most upsetting was the fact that all throughout my schooling I was never made aware that cardiac arrest is the number one killer in the United States, nor was I ever given any training on how to help a victim of cardiac arrest. It seemed to me that

The International Arrhythmia Winter School symposium, once regarded as a regional meeting, has been transformed into an internationally-attended symposium by Founder and Chairman Dr. Eugene Crystal, Director of Arrhythmia Services at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. Over 135 delegates participated at the 5th Annual Winter Arrhythmia School at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, Canada.
This year s symposium was particularly successful, as it incorporated some of the best teachers in the field of cardiac electrophysiology.

New Questions:

As the range of today s cardiovascular procedures continues to expand and their sites of service shift, familiarity with coding and reimbursement changes is critically important to assure compliance with CMS s regulations and appropriate integrity of the hospital s revenue cycle process. On November 1st, CMS released the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Final Rule, which is effective for services provided on or after January 1, 2008.
This overview will provide an update regarding the pertinent changes for services delivered in the cath lab, electrophysiology